661 Photo Report : Nanaimo Arenacross
DECEMBER 3, 2007

 

Nanaimo Arenacross Race Report Presented by SixSixOne Canada 

 

 Report and Photos by James Lissimore

After a sucessfull opening weekend for the newly formed Nex-Trax Arenacross series at Chilliwack three weeks ago, anticipation was high going into last weekends round at the Arbutus Meadows facility on Vancouver Island. Though a large snowstorm certainly made things difficult outside, the racing was as exciting as always inside. Here's a look at what happened.
 

 

 Nanaimo's Vancouver Island location requires a nice scenic hour and a half ferry ride from Vancouver to reach it's shores.

 

 

After clinching the West Coast arenacross series title last year, Lee Coutts used his homecoming race to unveil his new number one plates. In typical Coutts fashion, the number one's on his bike came complete with crosshairs over them, while his jersey featured a bullseye. Coutts' put the new number to good use with a win in Saturday's head to head Dash for Cash over Kyle Beaton and a third place in Saturday's Lites main.

 

 

Kyle Beaton was a man on a mission all weekend but ended with only one main event win to his credit. After leading Friday night's Lites main right till the last lap, he would unfortunately get landed on by Ryan Lockhart causing both riders to go down. Beaton remounted to finish second but was obviously not happy. He then crashed in the first corner of the Open main and put on a charge that saw him go from last all the way to second, it was quite an impressive ride with lap times quite a bit faster than the rest of the field. Saturday night would go a lot better for Beaton, as he won the Lites main after overtaking Colton Facciotti early in the race and again battled with Facciotti in the Open main before settling for second.

 

 

Ryan Lockhart's string of bad luck continued at the Nanaimo round. With the caution flags out on the final lap of Friday's Lites main due to a crash involving Shane Wiebe hitting a wall, Lockhart doubled while Beaton slowed up causing Lockhart to land on the Yamaha rider. The resulting crash took both riders down, and as had happened at the first round, took Lockhart out for the remainder of the weekend. Hopefully things may finally go Ryan's way at the next round in Chilliwack and we can finally see what the Nova Scotia rider is capable of.

 

 

Carter Pugh was battling all weekend with Noah Deighton in the mini classes. Pugh took the win in Saturday's 85cc 12-16 class and finished second Friday night.

 

RacerXCanada's Factory Rider for a Day from Nanaimo, Andrew Belin managed to get enough time off work to make it out for Friday evening's race. Riding his mechanic's bike, Belin finished 8th in the Open class.

 

 

 Colton Facciotti and Kyle Beaton were this close for much of the weekend. With the help of Clearbrook Yamaha, Facciotti was able to procure a 250f for the weekend so he could race both classes. He used the borrowed bike to get a win and a second place finish in the Lites class and then hopped back on his familiar Blackfoot 450 to take both wins in the Open class.

 

 

Vancouver Island's local fast girl, Camille Baker, took two convincing wins in the Ladies class at Nanaimo on her black KX250F.

 

 

The "Movie Star", Leading Edge Kawasaki's Johnny Montes finished 4th in Friday's Open main.

 

 

Tron Cathcart was on a tear, sweeping both the 65cc and 85cc 7-11 classes at Naniamo. Through four rounds he's undefeated so far in the 65cc class.

 

 

Lee Coutts and Brock Hoyer battle it out during Saturday's Open main. Hoyer finished 3rd both nights in the Open class and has now made the podium in every Open main so far in the series. The Kawasaki rider currently sits second in points in the Lites class and third in the Open class.

 

 

RTR's Kris Foster best finish was a third in Friday's Lites main. He's currently sitting in third in points for the Lites series.

 

 

 Josh Allen won both the 250 and Open Junior mains on Saturday night.

 

 

Kevin Lepp won the Open Intermdediate main on Saturday night and finished 3rd in 125 Intermediate. He also raced the MX Lites main and finished 8th.

 

 

Brock Shury and his dad Brent again made the long drive out from Saskatchewan for the Nanaimo round. His best finish was a 5th in Saturday's Open main.

 

 

Manitoba's Ryan Millar swept both nights of the 125 Intermediate class and had a best finish of 5th in Saturday's MX Lites main event.

 

Noah Deighton took top honours in the 85cc classes, winning both Supermini motos and Friday's 85cc 12-16 moto.

 


 

See you at the races!